International Education Studies

August, 2008

Problems and Solutions Related to College

Students Belief
Jinming Zhang
College of Humanities and Law, Tianjin Polytechnic University
Tianjin 300384, China
Abstract
With China staying in its social transition period, its changes in economy, politics and culture have influenced college
students thought to a large extent. Currently, in spite of the healthy and upward mainstream thought among college
students, there are also some problems. This article elaborates on the problems and manifestations in college students
belief in different stages of college life, analyzes the causes and explores some solutions to them.
Keywords: College students, Belief, Solution
1. Introduction
Belief, a kind of spiritual pursuit at a higher level, converts ideal values into firm faith and then further dominates
human thought and action. Belief is the most fundamental and profound spiritual phenomenon in our human society,
which will get expressed in all members following certain outlooks of world and life, values, and the supreme
ideological form taking dominance over the others.
At present, China is undergoing the transitions from planned economy to market economy, from public society to mixed
society, from leader-dominating society to constitutional one, from rural society to urban one, from poor society to
wealthy one and from industrial society to information one, which offer us a lot of strategic opportunities, but bring
about some problems as well. Besides promoting social development, such dramatic transitions have also exerted great
influence on college students thought.
2. Problems and Manifestations in College Students Belief
2.1 Problems and Manifestations in Freshmens Belief
Compared with others, freshmen have some incomparable characters: first, they are vigorous, energetic and ambitious.
College, for them, is a place to cultivate themselves, to lead to success and to get into contact with other ambitious
young men. Second, they have got good learning habits and attitudes. More than a decade of learning life, especially in
senior high, has cultivated their good leaning habits, including learning a variety of things from different sources
especially the library, attending classes punctually and attentively and respecting teachers and knowledge. As a result,
most of them hold firm to the correct outlooks of world and life and values, believe in Marxist philosophy. All in all,
their attitudes to life, including cognition and emotion, are correct and positive.
However, some problems may hide in such a good beginning. With sufficient leisure time in college life, those students
strict with themselves will hold a positive attitude to their learning and life, however, those who lack self-discipline will
kill their time in an empty way. Finding the college life boring, they are absorbed in online chatting, computer games all
day long. As a result, their classes have to give way to these meaningless things. Actually, not the life, but these students
themselves create their degradation (Lijie Chen, 2005). Just as what a sentence popular with college students nowadays
says, although degradation is guilty, it is beautiful. If these problems remain untouched, what is awaiting us is worse
condition in sophomores and juniors.
2.2 Problems and Manifestations in Sophomores and Juniors Belief
Sophomores and juniors take great efforts to collect all kinds of material from the library and the Internet instead of
only learning from their teachers. In this period, they put more importance on self-learning and a variety of theories and
opinions. Those students with positive outlooks of world and life and correct values will pay more attention to colorful
social life, international situations, national policies as well as some events in and outside China, hence expanding their
knowledge at the macro level. On the contrary, those students who began to fool along in the first year suffer from
spiritual weakness, which is expressed in the lack in interest, concern about things and positive attitudes to life (Junxia
Zhang, 2007). Instead of absorbing themselves to online chatting or computer games, they begin to puff those opinions
they think right and prefer those odd theories. Boys care for those extreme views while girls are more fond of
95

Vol. 1, No. 3

International Education Studies

constellation theories, fortune-telling and love and so on. They arent worried about drinking, fighting, their empty
college life, not to mention failing in the examination.
Obviously, without strengthened supervision and guidance of school authorities, these students will suffer from
ideological myths and great damage, even violate the law and do harm to our society although they are just exceptions.
Luckily, most of them will go through their senior life and get into the society finally.
2.3 Problems and Manifestations in Seniors Belief
The last year in college life is filled with hardship for most college students, during which they have to transfer from
their student life to vocational one and therefore, are faced with complicated decisions and reflections about their future
jobs, graduation examination, thesis oral defense, their future with their lovers, hence suffering from great
psychological pressure and conflicts. Of course, most students have obtained correct world outlook, life outlook and
values as well as rich knowledge and can adjust themselves psychologically. However, some others may suffer from
psychological problems resulting from defects in study or job hunting. As a result, they may lose their hope for their
own future as well as the whole society and turn to money worship or formalism instead. Reflected in behavior, they
may damage public properties, fight against others or do some other improper things. Whats worse, those serious ones
will hate the whole society.
With their special social status, increasing knowledge and skills, establishment of their self-confidence, stronger
independence, senior students try to break away from the exterior restriction and interference and hope to decide on
their own fate. Therefore, they have strong self-respect, react violently to criticisms and tend to go to extreme in their
views about some negative things existing in the current society.
3. Causes of the Problems in College Students Belief
3.1 Subjective Factors
College students lie in the stage of transferring from childhood to adulthood physically as well as learning to be
independent psychologically. Therefore, they have relatively poor cognitive and thinking abilities, hence producing
partial opinions about some issues; they are vigorous, energetic and care for new things, including those doubting,
criticizing and rejecting the traditional ones, hence having impulsive emotion and psychological states. In addition,
influenced by market economy, some students turn to money worship and hedonism. So, when they are faced with a
variety of information resources, they tend to feel at loss and then make wrong decisions, which will force them to
doubt their former belief, shake it and then end up with wrong one.
3.2 Objective Factors
3.2.1 Drawbacks in Higher Education
Since Chinese college students spend most of their college life in school, the educational system, pattern and culture
have great influence on their outlooks of world and life and their values. First, college teachers theoretical and teaching
capacity influences students moral quality. Some teachers, only paying attention to their teaching tasks while
neglecting to communicate with them, fail to learn about their life and belief; some, neglecting college students
psychological endurance, tell too much about the seamy side of our society, which will result in students extreme
understanding about some issues. Second, school regulations also have profound influence on college students thinking
and morality. Currently, most colleges put much importance on students academic and practical performance while
neglecting to cultivate their personality and characters. In addition, in most college students minds, college stands for
justice, fairness and humanity, which calls for our schools to strengthen their institutional construction to eliminate
malpractice on campus and those regulations with poor efficiency.
3.2.2 Negative Influences in Social Environment
The transition of Chinese society has not only offered some strategic opportunities but also caused some problems. As a
result, there must be some conflicts in the course of building a well-to-do society throughout the country and
establishing a harmonious socialist society.
As for political structure, some problems, such as slack work, low efficiency, non-public government affairs and lack in
regulations an so on, have degraded the authority and destroyed the image of government in peoples minds. Besides,
there are corruptions and disordered competitions in government, Communist Party itself, schools and enterprises,
which have led to students opinion that the current society is a money-oriented one and corruption is just a common
behavior. In addition, people are increasingly worried and disappointed at the issues in education, medical treatment
and housing. For college students, when they are confronted with great pressure in employment and living competition,
the great contrast between their ideal and the reality, between school education and social practice, their belief tend to
be destroyed in an instant. (Linli Tang, 2007) Finally, in the aspect of culture, two-thousand-year feudal society in
Chinas history has planted superstition into Chinese peoples minds. Just as someone says, Chinese people have no
belief and they will try everything coming to them when they really need something. Therefore, the popularity of
96

International Education Studies

August, 2008

Internet has resulted in peoples narrower ways of thinking and more superficial thinking as well as their poorer abilities
to reflect on and explore into those deep-level issues. Influenced by it, college students begin to believe in western
culture, such as constellation and Tarot as well as traditional Chinese culture, such as geomantic omen and temples.
4. Solutions to the Problems in College Students beliefs
In 1988, it was mentioned in a report issued by Japan Temporary Education Committee that it was urgent to strengthen
the moral education in school since it was critical for Japans future whether the youth in Japan could be cultivated to be
qualified in morality and creativity for the future 21st century. In addition, it pointed out that as the central institution of
moral education, schools are expected to conduct their education in a multi-dimensional and multi-level way instead of
inputting knowledge and skills one way into students (Huifang Chen). In terms of the important role of schools, this
article will focus on the solutions available in school education to the above problems.
4.1 Conducting Belief Education through Curriculum Setting
After the reform in the courses of ideological and political theories in Chinese colleges, Marxist contents have been
perfected and enriched to exert its influence in college students action. Under current circumstances, these theories
should be connected with students ideology and life as well as the reality of Chinese society. In addition, we should
face up to some problems in our reality and help students to form a correct understanding about a series of unfavorable
things in Chinas development, to distinguish phenomenon from nature, principal from non-principal contradictions and
to strengthen the core values of socialism with Chinese characteristics taking their physical and psychological ages into
consideration.
As for freshmen, we should encourage them to hold positive attitudes and opinions. We should help them to get familiar
with the new environment, blend in with others in their school life. In addition, help should be offered in their
knowledge about the characteristics of their majors, the potential employment outlook and the right way to study and
live their life during the coming four years. Only by solving their problems in a practical way will they form and hold
firm to correct values and outlooks of world and life. When it comes to sophomores and juniors, efforts should be made
to establish correct system of viewing and solving problems, especially to from the right view about the Internet, which
will enable them to use it not be addicted to it. Besides, if they establish right views about love under proper instructions,
theyll be able to support each other in study. And for senior students, right views of employment seem particularly
important, which will help them to conquer their emotional disorder, lack of confidence and hesitation about their job
orientation.
4.2 Strengthening the Cultural Construction on Campus
Just as someone says, children are surrounded by potential socialization of politics wherever they are. Therefore,
schools are expected to put more importance on the construction of their cultural atmosphere. Since the setting of a
schools overall environment, its atmosphere and interpersonal relationship can be experienced personally, they are
more likely to be accepted by students emotionally and ideologically. Actually, this kind of influence is not imperative
but conducted in an unconscious way.
First, some good civic awareness and conduct regulations should be displayed to freshmen to inform them of the
importance to cultivate their morality in addition to learning knowledge at college. Besides, educators and those
educated should be put to an equal position, their communication should be enhanced and students dominance and
importance should be exerted in their moral judgment and values choices. Those junior and senior students should be
encouraged to organize all kinds of community activities, such as part-time Party School, the Communist Youth League
School, groups to study the latest theoretical achievements of Chinese Marxism and so on. In this way, students from
different grades will get together to study some important theories such as that of socialism with Chinese characteristics
to form right values, outlooks of world and life in their minds. In addition, we can manage to establish healthy and
active cultural atmosphere on campus by organizing interest groups, cultural activities and some volunteer communities.
Seniors should be organized to take part in social practice and labor practice to improve their abilities in dealing with
problems in practice and adapting themselves to society and to form their practical values from the plainest work and
life instead of nihilism and fickleness presented on the Internet.
As the great poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says, the unique theme of world history lies in the conflicts between
belief and disbelief. All those belief-dominating ages have produced splendid and long-lasting achievements for their
generation and their offspring whatever form is adopted in their belief, while those disbelief-dominating ages have only
ended up with a few achievements whatever form is adopted. Even if the latter boasts about a kind of false glory, it will
fly away in an instant because nobody will bother to know anything about disbelief. Similarly, belief is of great
significance for China and the whole human history. Chinese college students are the constructer and successor of the
cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, whose belief is closely related to the stability and development of China.
Consequently, great efforts are supposed to be made to solve the current problems in their belief and promote their
healthy development.
97

Vol. 1, No. 3

International Education Studies

References
Chen, Huifang. The Means of Ideological and Political Education in Western Nations and the Inspiration. [Online]:
http://www.gotoread.com/article/?MagID=4856&wid=96010.
Chen, Lijie. (2005). Belief Crisis among Contemporary College Students and Its Reconstruction. Liaoning Education
Research. 12.
Shao, Yingxia., Bi, Lina. & Zhao, Yan. Belief Crisis among Contemporary College Students and Its Reconstruction.
Basic Theory Research.
Tang, Linli. (2007) The Realistic Manifestation of College Students Belief Crisis in Internet Age. Materials of Science
and Education. Early August 2007.
Zhang, Junxia., Xing, Lingguo. & Guo, fuyan. (2007). On the Cause of the Belief Crisis of College Students and the
Countermeasure. Journal of Changsha University. Vol 21. July 2007.

98